I was born and raised in a diverse working-class neighborhood in Greensboro, NC, to a family with Midwestern and Northeastern roots. From a young age, I was exposed to many different cultures and faith traditions - among my closest friends growing up were Irish Catholics, Black Baptists, Japanese Buddhists, and Korean Presbyterians. My parents were not regular churchgoers, but we visited a variety of churches throughout my childhood: I was baptized in a Presbyterian (USA) church, attended preschool at an Episcopal church, and was confirmed in a United Methodist church. Though I was not raised with any particular theological indoctrination or enforced religious practice, I was encouraged to engage religion thoughtfully and respectfully, as well as broadly and critically.

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As an adolescent, I became interested in Taoism and in various forms of neopaganism (particularly Wicca). In college, I studied comparative religious anthropology alongside my degree in social psychology. Throughout my teens and early twenties, I was immersed in Greensboro's local music and arts scene, performing as a drummer in an indie-punk band for several years before setting out on my own as a folk/indie singer/songwriter . Like many of my "Xennial" peers, I developed an interest in Buddhism, Hinduism, and indigenous American traditions, but maintained a rather snarky disdain for the neoliberal capitalist expressions of Christianity that dominated popular media and cultural life in the American South.

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In 2005, I shocked everyone I knew (including myself!) by becoming a follower of Jesus after a life-changing encounter with the living God on a North Carolina beach one day. That sincere faith commitment has guided my journey ever since, sustaining a lifelong quest to discern more fully what it means to live into my own authentic Christian witness in the concrete context of real community.